falls off the fiscal cliff. if the cliff is averted... >> then i think you will see silver, platinum, palladium-- the so-called white metals-- outperform gold, because they will tend to outperform in a risk-on environment in a cyclical upturn. >> reporter: now, the other scenario: >> in an environment where we go off the fiscal cliff and we see continued problems on the debt side for the u.s., i think the gold price outperforms the white metals. >> reporter: gold's price will also depend on whether central banks continue to diversify their holdings into gold, and whether they implement more quantitative easing to boost growth. the outlook for platinum is a little more complicated. there have been major supply disruptions due to labor unrest in south africa, which produces nearly all of the world's platinum. it also depends on demand. >> europe is a key part of the platinum demand picture. if europe can recover, certainly that's going to bode well for platinum demand. if the price trades higher, it may affect som